Edwin Juarez, 28, was booked Saturday with two counts of negligent homicide, careless operation of a vehicle and driving without a license or insurance. His arrest was tied to statements he gave police that didn't match up with evidence found at the scene of the fatal crash near the Belle Chasse Highway Bridge, said Trooper Melissa Matey, a state police spokeswoman.

The wreck happened June 21 after 8:30 p.m. Authorities said the 1995 Toyota 4Runner the men were riding in veered left on a northbound lane and hit a concrete wall before jumping over the barrier and falling 40 feet to the ground.

Jose Gustavo Reyes, 31, also known as Carlos Vallecio, and Ronaldo Jimenez, 29, were killed. Juarez and his brother Herson Juarez, 24, were injured.

The men apparently were returning home from working a roofing job.

Matey said that at the scene of the crash Edwin Juarez told police that he was not driving the vehicle when the accident occurred. However, Juarez was missing a shoe that police later found lodged between the accelerator and floor during a search of the vehicle, Matey said.

Police also noticed that Juarez had bruising across his chest from a seatbelt, but the shape of the bruises conflicted with where Juarez said he was sitting in the vehicle, Matey said. The spokeswoman could not say on Monday whether Juarez had made any statements about the crash since his arrest.

"They're still in the process of determining where everybody was seated in the vehicle," Matey said.

In an interview last week, Herson Juarez said that he was in the back seat and that the men were driving through a heavy rainstorm when the crash happened. Juarez, who told a reporter that Reyes was the driver, said that after the wreck, the four managed to crawl out of the vehicle before help arrived.

Initially, State Police believed that Reyes was driving the vehicle when it crashed based on accounts from the Juarez brothers, and that alcohol was a factor in the crash. Matey said investigators still suspect alcohol, and that blood samples were taken from the Juarez brothers at the crash scene to have them tested.

Reyes' pastor, Pastor Luis Bertrand of Church of God Prophecy in Metairie, questioned whether alcohol was a factor in the wreck, saying that Reyes was not a drinker.

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Allen Powell II can be reached at apowell@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3793.